Sunday Stills: Power Lines and Landscapes

I realize this is quite tardy, but better late than never, right? ;) What can I say, it was a busy, fun-filled, and very productive day (the details of which shall be shared at great length tomorrow).

This week's Sunday Stills challenge was to take some photos that would be stellar if not for those pesky power lines that seem to be unavoidable sometimes.

What better way to kick this off than with a peaceful pastoral setting of horses (including babies) happily grazing in a lush green field. Kinda hard not to notice the big black line bisecting the upper half of this otherwise lovely picture, though.

And the always lovely Mt. Rainier...cut in half by two black lines.

This one's great because not only do we have power lines, but I've thrown in a big red and white tower!

Lines, poles, streetlights...all the goodies! And next, horizontal and vertical lines...bonus!

Last up, a shot of my very favorite meadow which I see every day when I walk my dogs. It's the prettiest in the morning (which, incidentally, is when I took this) when the green is SUPER green before getting drenched in the afternoon sunlight. Now, can I admit something here? (voice drops to a whisper) I have to admit that I actually like the power lines in this picture. There, I said it. From time to time, I like power lines in a shot. Please don't kick me out of Sunday Stills now, k? ;)

Wacky Weimy Wednesday: Bath Time!

While I was bathing the two crazies yesterday, it occured to me that bath time with my furry kids is probably very similar to bath time with human kids. For example, as with little boy humans, Caleb HATES baths. As soon as he catches wind of what's going on he heads for his "secret" hiding spot (see below). Although he really needs to find a new spot...he's way too predictable. It's so funny, too...he completely knows what's about to happen before I even utter the word "bath". As soon as he sees me head for "that side" of the house with towels in hand, he's all of a sudden vanished! Cracks me up!

Cabela, on the other hand LOVES her baths and actually begs to be the first to get in the tub. I usually bathe Caleb first, though, just to get him out of the way...but Cabela's waiting at the door the whole time for her turn! Then, she's so excited when I'm putting her in the tub, giving me kisses, tail wagging like crazy.

Also like human kiddos, once they're in the tub, they'd rather be playing than getting clean...messing with the soap, licking at the water, etc. ;)

Although Cabela loves her bath she's also just as excited to get out of the bath and run around like crazy, getting her "scent" back.

At this point, Caleb has put himself back into hiding, convinced that the Chinese Water Torture has only just begun. Pretty soon, though Cabela will go roust him out of his spot so they can enjoy some "naked play time" (without their collars on). ;)

I dare you to try to watch the video below without laughing...these two are NUTS for naked play time!

When the dust settles from the Weimy 500 things actually get pretty peaceful around here. That's one great thing about bath night...totally wears 'em out! And that's hard to do!

Sunday Stills: The Color Yellow

This week's Sunday Stills challenge is the color yellow...what a perfect challenge for this time of year! Yellow seems to be everywhere, at least in my neck of the woods!

This is our "small town bell tower". I really love having this feature in our town; during the holidays this is where we light our Christmas tree. But right now, it's all about the daffodil! Our town is big on celebrating the daffodil and is one that takes part in the "daffodil parade" each year.

A buttercup close up! At least, I think this is a buttercup. If my memory serves me right, I seem to remember buttercups being shorter than these flowers were. Hmm...maybe they're just supercharged buttercups, just like everything else up here (i.e.; weeds, weeds, and more weeds...all of the supercharged variety). ;)

In taking some close ups of these pretty flowers, I noticed this little spider guy hanging out.

This guy seems peaceful enough...I actually really like garden spiders. But I can't stand their cousins. I think these petunias are called "Lemon Zest", so I figure that's very fitting for a yellow challenge. I love having petunias on the front porch. The smell is pure heaven. My mom used to put these in our window boxes, so the smell always brings back good memories.


Here are a couple of other little critters...a busy worker honey bee and a cute little bumble bee (or chicken bee as my neighbors call them). Did you all know that bumble bees nest in the ground? I just learned that! No wonder I stepped on so many as a kid!

Last, just to throw in a little variety, we have here my most favorite logo. ;)

Hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day!

P.S. I can't wait 'till next week's challenge!!! Power lines and landscapes! Are you kiddin' me?! I love power line pictures! And I have a mondo set of 'em in very close vacinity! Sweet! Now that I'm so excited, I'll probably choke and have to go back to the archives. ;)

A voice for Caspian

Hey everyone! Happy Memorial Day weekend! Hope everyone has a wonderful time.

So, I've started a blog for my favorite equine where I'm hopefully going to feature some training stories and other fun stuff.

Feel free to pop on over and give him a nicker! ;)

Skywatch Friday No. 45

This is what the sky looked like a few nights ago on my drive home. It's a little hard to tell in these pictures, but the bottoms of the clouds were almost perfectly flat and really dark. It was absoutely breathtaking in real life. Sometimes it's hard to really capture the true beauty in a photograph. I think you can get an idea of it in these pics, though.

This is what the sky looked like as I got a little closer to home. It was pretty ominous looking and I was sure we were going to get thunder, but we didn't much to my disappointment!

Be sure to check out Skywatch Friday for more great sky pictures from all over the world. Happy Friday!

Wacky Weimy Wednesday: Our Favorite Thing!

I'm sure that a lot of you guys have seen the Dog vs. Cat Diary, but if you haven't, definitely go check it out! It cracks me up!

This is my take on Caleb and Cabela's version of the dog diary. A typical Sunday day around here...

5:45am: Wake up and wrestle on the bed until mommy wakes up. Our favorite thing!

6:00am: Go outside and then eat breakfast. Our favorite thing!

6:15am: Go back to bed with mommy. Our favorite thing!

8:30am: Wake mommy back up to start our day. Go for a ride (our favorite thing!) to get a chai tea. Share foam from chai tea (our favorite thing!)

9:30am: Go for a walk with mommy. Our favorite thing!

10:30am: Play outside. Dig holes where we know we're not 'posed to. Our favorite thing!

12:00pm: Get drink from our front yard pond. Our favorite thing!

12:15pm: Go in our pen for lunch (our favorite thing!). Stay in our pen for awhile so mommy can do her yardwork (not our favorite thing!)

2:15pm: Come out of our pen to run around with mommy and play some more.

3:00pm: Go inside for some ice treats fresh from the refrigerator. Our favorite thing!

4:00pm: Back in our pen for a rest. Not our favorite thing! (Our mommy really needs to finish that fencing project!!)

6:00pm: "Help" mommy feed that big thing she calls a horse. Run around like crazy while mommy is distracted. Our favorite thing!

7:00pm: Go for a Sunday evening drive with mommy. Our favorite thing!

8:15pm: Watch the sun set with mommy and get nose prints on the window. Our favorite thing!


8:30pm: "Help" mommy make dinner. Our favorite thing!

8:45pm: Chew our pork skin twists while mommy eats her dinner. Our favorite thing!

9:30pm: Stretch out on the couch with mommy. Our favorite thing!

I think we can all learn a lesson from dogs, in that we should always appreciate and enjoy the little things in life that make us happy! These guys remind me of that every day!

Sunday Stills:"Eye Spy"

A few of my favorites for this week's Sunday Stills challenge...

Caleb's eyes are very photogenic (I know I've bragged about them before), but there's also something behind his stare that makes me feel like he's reading my mind...

My kitty Lunar's eyes were the first thing that came to my mind for this challenge. Cat eyes are just so interesting.

I even managed to get a human subject in here! ;) This is one of my nieces. She always has the brightest, most cheerful eyes that are always smiling.

Okay, now I know this next one might be a stretch, but I wanted to include something a little different and when I saw this butterfly moth hanging out yesterday, I thought it might be perfect. To me, the markings on its wings looked like two little cartoon eyes.

I started to wonder if they have these markings in order to defend themselves against predators. I thought this was pretty interesting so I did what I always do...I "googled" it! I wasn't able to find out a whole lot about this moth in particular, but I did find this page where it said "large, bright eyespot markings, like those on the peacock butterfly, may also serve to startle a foe".

Ah ha! I now feel validated in including these pictures for the "eye" challenge!

Pretty interesting...nature never ceases to amaze me! It also said that some moths have the ability to tune into a bat's sonar system and either drop to the ground when they detect it or some can even block it with their own high pitched sound. Fascinating!

Okay, I think that's it...thanks for the challenge! Can't wait for next week's!

Skywatch Friday No. 44

Skywatch Friday No. 44

I took these pics a few weeks ago and almost forgot all about them!

I just can't get enough of photographing sunsets...I probably need to branch out a little, but I might have a hard time with that!

I actually really like the power lines in this one. Some may think that power lines in a shot are ugly, but to me it's quintessential "kuntry". I used to ride horses along the power lines with my friends growing up and a picture like this always brings back those happy memories. :)

Happy Friday and I hope everyone enjoys the weekend ahead!

Wacky Weimy Wednesday: Whatchu lookin' at?

The infamous Weimy lip curl. ;)

Sunday Stills: Black and White

I was so excited for this week's Sunday Stills challenge, because I really love black & white and sometimes I forget how much! Often times, it seems like converting an average photo to black and white can work wonders. Maybe the photo was just too busy with so much color, or maybe you want to highlight one certain aspect of the photo. Either way, I love experimenting with it, so this was a really fun challenge!

The two categories I chose for this challenge were water and plants and flowers.

I thought this little snail guy was so cute and I love how he's looking at his reflection in this second one.

This is my Japanese Snowbell...I really like the leaves of this tree and I liked how the black and white conversion brought out the contrasting colors in the bark.

This is a sand cherry...didn't know if this one was going to make it after our hard winter, but it's a resiliant little bugger!

Of course, I can't forget one of my garden favorites, the lovely lilac!

And last, a clump of grass left over after mowing 'cause I was too lazy to fire up the weed wacker. I kind-of detest weed wacking. Makes my arms sore. It's good to have a few clumps left over here and there, right? For photography purposes, of course.